Ranma/Kushina

Uzumaki Kushina was stomping through the streets on her way to her new home in Konoha after her first day at the academy, once again reminded of how cruel children could be. 'How dare they call me tomato head! So my hair is red! That doesn't mean they can compare it to a vegetable! Damn kids… damn hair… damn age… DAMN EVERYTHING! '

She was so wrapped up in her inner ranting that she didn't notice the stone in the middle of the road before she tripped face first into the dirt. Grumbling about "damn rocks" as she pushed herself to her feat and started brushing off her clothes she noticed the void in the somewhat crowded street centered around herself before she realized that she was giving off a considerable amount of killing intent… Taking deep, calming breaths she slowly reigned in her emotions to a more manageable level and continued walking until her stomach growled loud enough to make some of the people in the surrounding throng start in surprise, quite forcefully reminding her that she hadn't eaten since lunch at the academy…

Grumbling to herself about the injustices of an empty stomach she decided that her family would understand if she were home a little late and looked around in search of somewhere to grab a quick bite to eat. Not too far down the street she spotted a stand with its sign proudly proclaiming itself as "Ichiraku Ramen" and decided that with her appetite, the noodles would be as good a snack to tide her over until supper as any. The smell that assaulted her nose as she sat down at the bar brought up memories almost forgotten to her in the nearly four years since she had found herself in this world. She smiled at the once hated, but now fond recollections of a short old ghoul of a woman perched on a table as she was wacked over the head with a staff for some trespass or another while the ghoul's great-granddaughter berated a boy with coke-bottle glasses on his forehead to wear said glasses properly and stop hugging random pieces of furniture or customers. Looking around she idly noted that this place may be no Neko-Hanten, but if the food was half as good, it would do for now.

Stirring a pot behind the counter was a bald man in a chef's outfit. His eyes seemed to be perpetually squinting, possibly in an attempt to ward off the copious amounts of steam that were wafting off of the ramen pots. When she came in he had been talking to a woman not much younger than himself who was sitting at the counter. From the smell coming over from the bowl in front of her, this promised to be even better than the Neko-Hanten's fare.

I came up with this when I was in the early stages of "Amongst the Leaves" and hadn't decided where I wanted that story to go yet...

There were actually two different backgrounds I was considering using for this one until I finally decided on the story seen in AtL

1) Ranma is sent through "Space and Time" by Kuno, much like in AtL, but she ends up in Uzugakure instead of Konoha and is adopted by the Uzumaki clan. while learning how to use Chakra her Ki warps things a bit and gives her the Chakra Chains. Naruto-verse history proceeds much like it does in Canon with maybe a few minor deviations until the night of the Kyuubi attack where she is sent back to her "Home" universe when she "dies" with only a few months having passed there. Not wanting to leave her newborn son to the not so tender mercies of Konoha's citizens for however long will have passed before she returns she proceeds to find a way back to her New home with various levels of violence and "Nerima-hijinks" involved depending on how much and who I felt like alienating among the NWC's ranks. She returns to Konoha some-time between the Uchiha Massacre and Naruto's Graduation with whoever doesn't piss her off too much coming with her while everyone else follows on her coat-tails. The story would then proceed into various potential and undecided directions while the butterfly effect has a seizure.

2) This one would take some reworking of the above scene to fit into the story, but it's not impossible...

Basically Ranma is living two lives. When He goes to sleep, Uzumaki Kushina wakes up. For all intents and purposes, they are the same person and as they get older, "Ranma" retreats more and more into her life as Kushina because of the freedom she associates with it. Sure it's not perfect. There's death, war and an ancient Fox demon sealed in her gut, but at least she doesn't have a Baka Oyaji breathing down her neck to be a "Man among Men" all the time. It makes things interesting when "he" falls into the Spring of Drowned Girl and finds out Genma engaged "him" to kami knows how many other girls, but the life of a Kunoichi is fraught with peril...

The story would jump back and fourth from life to life whenever one or the other goes to sleep.

-The Ranma Storyline would mostly follow canon until they reach the Tendo Dojo. Kushina puts up her "Ranma-face" whenever she's living that life and since she's been trained as a Ninja it would be strong enough to fool just about anyone who isn't over a century old. All bets are off once Cologne and Happosai show up, and depending on certain things Nabiki might start getting an inkling on what's really going on with "Ranma" even before then. The story would then proceed with Kushina steadily pealing away the mask while fighting for her right to just "be herself" as more and more people figure things out and she would have a bit of a rivalry with Konatsu over who's the better Kunoichi when he finds out. Other relationships would vary depending on the story's evolution.

-The Kushina Storyline would pretty much follow Naruto-verse cannon, again with a few deviations thanks to her experiences in the "Other World". Minato along with a few select others (such as Jiraiya, Hiruzen and maybe Tsunade) would be told about her double-life experiences, but other than that no one knows. She would use this time in her "real" life, when she's not dealing with the events around her, to try and collect herself from the bizarre experiences in her life as "Ranma" as well as try and plan out how to counter whatever threats she encountered there without breaking her "cover".

This continues up to when she dies during the Kyuubi attack, but wakes up as "Ranma" in "his" universe and when he tries to go back to sleep she doesn't "wake up" in Konoha, or at all for that matter. Panicking she goes to Cologne, who has become a friend by this point (Respect for a female warrior who's not only in the "wrong body" but the "wrong world" goes a long way for this one), and they try and figure out how to get her back to her newborn son in the "Other World". The time when she goes back to, and who goes with her would follow the same lines as Idea 1 with similar results as applied to chaos theory...